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Cruella de Vil
Cruella de Vil is a main antagonist of the franchise. Constantly schemes to steal the Ridicoulously-Small-House and/or get richer. She lives next door to the Dearlys in Villa de Vil. Like her character played by Glenn Glose in the 1996 live action film, she is also owner of House of de Vil, a fashion house, where Anita dearly works for her. Throughout the series as a couple of running gags, she reminds herself of random things by making memos to herself via a RadioShack tape recorder and always calls Roger other names that start with an "R". Cruella de Vil is The villain of the original One Hundred and One Dalmatians, back once again to kidnap the puppies Voiced by April Winchell and Susan Blakeslee and Betty Lou Gerson Dodie Smith Novel In the original story, Cruella is a pampered London heiress who knows the owner of the Dalmatian puppies through school>. Her net wealth as mentioned in 101 Dalmatians is 6 millions pounds. She was a notorious student with black and white plaits. She was later expelled for drinking ink. Now she is the last of her prosperous and notorious family and married to a furrier who supplies her obsession, such as the one piece she is never seen without; a white mink cloak. With this, she wears skin-tight satin gowns and ropes of jewels in contrasting colors, such as an emerald color dress with ropes of rubies. Her chauffeur-driven car is black-and-white striped (Mr. Dearly comments that it looks like "a moving zebra crossing") and has the loudest horn in London, which she insists on displaying to the Dearly family. Such dramatic luxuries were said t o be based on Tallulah Bankhead's lavish spending habits, which the producers of the film first read about in a newspaper.[2] When she has guests for dinner, all of Cruella's food is strange colours and tastes of pepper (alluding to her quick temper). She constantly stokes a roaring fire and complains of being cold despite the elevated temperature. The flat is portrayed as a sort of luxurious version of Hell and sets up Cruella's "devilish" persona for her later crimes. Her guests also meet her abused white Persian cat, which plays a key role in a later part of the story. When invited to a dinner party held by the Dearly couple, Cruella expresses her sinister interest in the Dalmatians, remarking how she and her henpecked husband have never thought of making clothing from dog pelt before. Yet seeing the spotless skins of the newborn puppies she is revolted and offers to have them drowned at once; her way of getting rid of animals which she views as worthless, including her own cat's kittens. Upon a second visit to the house she picks up the mature puppies and treats them like clothing to be worn. Cruella also makes a brief appearance, albeit asleep, in Dodie Smith's sequel, The Starlight Barking. Animated Movies Disney's animated version of Cruella first appeared in 1961's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, in which she was voiced by Betty Lou Gerson and animated by Marc Davis who together crafted her into an iconic and memorable character. The cool detachment of the original character was replaced by a crazed mania, in which Cruella only barely clung to a sheen of glamour. Anita comments Cruella's above mentioned fur coat is new when Cruella first appears. For unexplained reasons, Cruella's cat and husband were omitted from the Disney version. Cruella drives a very distinctive Zimmer-like automobile, colored red and black. The film featured a song, written by the late Mel Leven, using her name as the title, sung by the dalmatians' owner Roger (Bill Lee), who holds the woman in contempt. The lyric begins with: "Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil. If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will..." Disney considered reusing Cruella as the villain for The Rescuers, but decided against it because they did not want to make it a sequel to an otherwise unrelated film. Cruella eventually returned in the 2003 direct-to-video sequel 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, where she was voiced by Susanne Blakeslee. In the Sequel, Cruella has been let out of Prison, but the rules of her probation state she is no longer allowed to buy any more furs and there is a restraining order against her and the Ratcliff’s. When trying to find what she has left to live for she meets an undiscovered artist called Lars, whom paints Spots. She has Lars paint many, many spotted paintings before figuring that the paint isn’t good enough. She pays for Horace & Jaspers bail from Jail and after stealing a Kanine Krunchies Van, has the Badduns steal the Dalmatian Puppies again, asking Lars to make a Canvas WITH the Puppies, Lars refuses resulting in Cruella to tie him up. When the Dalmatians escape, she chases them through London, before cornering them in an Alleyway, Thunderbolt distracts them long enough for Patch to start the London Bus, the Dalmatians were in, to chase them into the Thames. She is later dragged away, seeming to have gone insane and is sent to a Mental Institute. Blakeslee also voiced Cruella in the 2001 TV series Disney's House of Mouse, which featured a running gag in which she inspects dogs from other Disney films with a measuring ruler. Cruella is also one of the Disney Villains Mickey fights in Disney's Hollywood Studios version of Fantasmic! Nighttime Show Spectacular in Walt Disney World. In Disney On Ice play 'Celebrations', Cruella De Vil was one of the Villains who appears during the Halloween Party. In the Disney Cruise Stage Show; ‘Villains Tonight’ Cruella appears in a Hip Hop version of her theme displaying a Fashion show, she later hosts the Party the same evening. Live Action Remake In Disney's 1996 live-action remake of the animated film, 101 Dalmatians, and its 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians, Cruella was played by Glenn Close. The film reinvented Cruella yet again, this time as the magnate of a couture fashion house, "House of De Vil", which specialised in fur couture. The character of Anita (played by Joely Richardson) was a couturière and employee of De Vil. Unlike the animated film, the live-action version gives the reason why Cruella wanted to make the puppies into coats at a young age, is that because their fur wouldn't be as soft when they're full grown adult dogs. This film increased the physical comedy of the animated film, even veering into toilet humor, such as Cruella falling into a vat of old molasses. Close's performance was universally well-received, and her sex appeal as the character was also credited. The live-action film was not as critically successful as the animated movie, but Close's performance, as well as her costumes, by Anthony Powell and Rosemary Burrows, received appreciative attention, including a spread in Vanity Fair magazine. Claws were applied to gloves, and necklaces were made from teeth, to add to the idea that Cruella enjoyed wearing parts of dead animals. Nails were also projected from the heels to make them especially vicious in appearance. Close has commented on how demanding the slapstick physicality of the role was while wearing nail-heeled boots and corsets. She was always smoking to give the appearance of a mysterious "villain". In 102 Dalmatians, while under effect of Dr. Ivan Pavlov's hypnotherapy treatment, Cruella was cured of her evil habits and released from prison on parole, three years after the events of the first film. She insisted on being called "Ella" because "Cruella sounds so ... cruel". Completely devoted to saving animals and while experiencing "doraphobia", she was scared by even the smallest sight of fur fashion, especially since she had all of her old fur clothes and Anita's drawing of Cruella in a Dalmatian puppy coat boarded up. Unfortunately, this new persona was not to last for long, since the effects of Big Ben's bells managed to undo the hypnotherapy, reverting Cruella to her former self. During the "Ella" stage, Cruella quit her characteristic habits, such as wearing fur clothing, long nails, extravagant hair styles, and of course, smoking. Once Big Ben jolted her brain waves back into Cruella, her old habits returned. At the end of the movie, she was baked into a massive cake and arrested once again; this time sentenced to life in prison, and her entire fortune went to 2nd Chance Dog Shelter. 101 Dalmatians The Series In the "101 Dalmatians The Series", Cruella was voiced by April Winchell and was based on Glenn Close's portrayal from the live-action film, but with Betty Lou Gerson's design from the animated film. She is not seen wearing clothes made out of animals, nor smoked (although in the episode "Smoke Detectors" she did) and is totally sane. Her villainous plot in the show was to steal the Dearlys' farm from them, and using the puppies as a ransom, mainly because the old widow Smedly would not sell it to her and that her mother Malevola demands it. She is an archetypal corporate villain who will seize on any scheme to make money, including drilling oil from the swamp near Dearly farm (thereby polluting it), buying Kanine Krunchies and replacing the nutritious ingredients with sawdust and chalk or sending Jasper and Horace to drive out the owners of Mom and Pop's Grocery Store so she can buy it herself. In the Christmas episode, "A Christmas Cruella", since she was a child, Cruella wanted a dalmatian puppy, but her parents always go on vacations, leaving her with a foreign nanny and clothes for gifts. During her teens, was the final straw which gave her her half white hairline in her fury (earlier, she is seen with all black hair and a slight gray-ish streak). Her miserable childhood is what drove her to evil. The series is also the first time Cruella uses seduction as one of her evil schemes. In the series finale, she uses an inflatable body suit to disguise herself as a sexy blonde bikini surfer to seduce Roger to make Anita think he is cheating her so they will split up and she can get the farm. When Anita goes swimming, she makes her move on him. She asks him to go swimming with her and then tries to kiss him, but her suit is deflated by Spot, and she turns into a surfboard. She has often gotten into romantic affairs in the Series too. In "Shipwrecked", she tries to swoon with Starbuck, Captain Ahab's first mate, In "Cupid Pups", Cruella joined the Tally-Ho Fox Hunting Club to seduce and wed herself to Baron Von Schnickerdoodle. One Valentine, Cruella accidentally recieves Roger's Valentine to Anita and thinks it's for her When Roger & Anita remarry, Ahab, Starbuck, The Baron, Ralphie St. Lowrent (her Business Rival), The Leader of a Biker Gang, A Sheiff, Swamp Rat and an Alien Cult claim they want to marry her. Surprised by this display of affection, Cruella allows Roger & Anita to wed and keep the Farm. Musical Incarnation Cruella also appears as the primary antagonist in the Broadway musical based on the novel. The character was portrayed by Rachel York;[7] however, the actress announced on her blog tha t she had stepped down from the role of Cruella de Vil to pursue other projects. The role has been taken over by Sara Gettelfinger. In Popular Culture The Queen song "Let Me Entertain You" features the lyrics "I'll Cruella de Vil You!" The Children 18:3 song "The Cruel One" is about 101 Dalmatians and mentions Cruella de Vil by name in the chorus. The Deadsy song "Cruella" is written about Cruella de Vil to honor her memory because of the fact that she was shot by a mysterious assassin in "Who Shot Cruella De Vil?" 1. The Spanish singer Alaska made a song called "Cruella de Vil" for the 101 Dalmatians Live-action film. Teen singer and actress Selena Gomez redid the song, based on the song from Disney's 101 Dalmatians. American singer and performer Lady Gaga dressed up as Cruella de Vil for Halloween in 2010. The performer has had many outfits inspired by the villain. Homages In The Simpsons episode "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds", Mr. Burns plays the role of Cruella De Vil, who was authentically assassinated, but unlike her in the movies, where she steals the dalmatian puppies to make them into fur coats, he steals Santa's Little Helper and his girlfriend's greyhound puppies to make them into a tuxedo. And unlike Cruella, who has no hesitation in killing the puppies, Burns cannot bear to kill the puppies himself because they are too cute. Instead, he decides to train them to be world-class racing dogs. Coco LaBouche from 2000's Rugrats in Paris is a parody of Cruella Category:Villians Category:Characters Category:De Vil family Category:Female Characters Category:Animated Characters Category:Series Characters Category:Live-Action Characters